A Weekend with Picasso of Odense

This weekend we were invited to the home of Etta, our 85 year old friend who lives in downtown Odense.

Her home is full of paintings, ceramic sculptures and family memories. As a young student she attended art school and through the years she has painted and sculpted all over her house.

Even her doors are decorated with Etta's family and favorite art pieces.

I remember reading a book about Pablo Picasso and seeing his home. He was so much in love with painting that he seldom had time to hang his growing masterpieces. He use to pay his bills with checks. He knew that his signature was so famous that few people would actually cash his checks. This is Etta's hall way leading us down the paintings and drawings of her life.

With great effort, Etta prepared a feast for us. Her love for color filled the table with clear blue plates, a bouquette of bachelor buttons and carnations. She served creamed asparagus, frickadeller (meat balls), and a salad of strawberries, peas, raisins, onions, and greens.

She fed a crowd- Elder Barnard, Elder Smedley, Sister Brown, Sister Hatten, Etta's friend kristine, Elder Wilberg and me. We ended with a delicious Danish dessert.. Rodgrod strawberry pudding with cream.

At the end of dinner, Etta's friend showed an interest in going to a movie night at the center the next night. One of our Young Adults had asked us to show, again, our Mobster and Mormon Movie.

In the last four weeks we have shown this movie to a small group of three, a group of one, and a group of twenty teenagers celebrating the end of school. They were all Danish and understood the Mormon Utah Humor in this very American Film.

Kristine decided to invite Ette to our movie. They both know very little English. So that evening, we watched Mobsters and Mormons with Etta 85 years old, Kristine- 34 years, a Burmese Boy who had come to meet with the Missionaries. (He didn't speak English or Danish, he speaks Burmese). It was also our 45th wedding anniversary. Noone understood the movie. Etta said that she had plenty of things to do at home, so we watched only half of Mobsters...and then we went into the living room and had passion mouse chocolate cake and sandwiches.

It was a very unusual anniversary. We will never forget the night we had passion mouse chocolate cake with the "Picasso" lady from Odense. Thank you, Etta, for riding your bike to the center, in the rain to watch a movie that you could not understand, and then staying for dessert. I think the next movie that you might like is "Baptists at the Barbecue."